Monday, November 16, 2009

The little cold front that blew through in the morning demonstrated why the awning manufacturers recommend that you roll them up beforethe storm arrives.

Suffice it to say that we learned the hard way that even though it may be dead calm, some cold fronts can arrive with a bang and this one did just that.

After removing the remains of the destroyed awning, Tracy and I bundled up and went down to the boat slips to see if we could catch a flounder.

Some say flounder are not the prettiest saltwater fish but I find them appealing. They have cool green eyes and their mouth is shaped in a permanent sneer as if to say "Yeah - I'm cool".

Their skin is blotched and spotted for camouflage against the sandy or muddy bottom where they lie in wait for their prey to swim by. They love the shallows at night and when they are still are almost invisible.

With both eyes on the same side of their head and a mouth that works sideways you wouldn't think they could see or catch anything but when they decide to eat something, it rarely gets away.

I only managed to catch one flounder all afternoon and Tracy got skunked.

This one wasn't nearly as big as the one Tracy caught on Friday but was definitely big enough for a nice meal. Since we got to enjoy Edie's version of stuffed whole flounder for dinner, I gave her and Tommy this one for them to have after work.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Tracy's birthday weekend promised to be better for fishing as the rain had cleared out and the weather was beautiful. We were out of town all week and it was good to come "home" to Matagorda.

After supper at Spoonbills, we headed out to the PPRV boat slip for a little night fishing under the lights. I tagged a few trout and Tracy caught this beautiful 20" flounder.

Guess what we will be having for dinner? Monday night we took the flounder to Spoonbills and Edie stuffed it with crabmeat and served it with a nice salad and grilled asparagus. I think we both ate until we were the ones that were stuffed and enjoyed the meal and the special dessert.

On Saturday we headed up river to our usual spot and even though the trout didn't seem to be there, Tracy caught this nice redfish on a live shrimp.

On the way back down the river we spotted a pair of bald eagles waiting for a fish to rise.

We moved to a spot in the diversion channel halfway between the ICW and West Matagorda Bay and the fun really got going. We caught several redfish and though most of them were undersized, we were able to put four slot reds in the box.

Here is Captain John with a nice slot red. I was fishing lower in the water column and seemed to have the luck of the bigger fish in my corner for a while.

These fish are aggressive fighters and catching them in an anchored boat is different than catching them in a kayak where you can let them pull you around.

This was the big fish of the day. He already had a belly full of mullet when he took my shrimp.

This black drum put up a good fight but was released to grow some more.

Tracy has "fish on" and keeps the rod tip up (just like I taught her!).

Don't horse him!

The shoreline of this river delta is littered with tree trunks and logs. This white ibis was feeding nearby.

Here is the catch of the day at the cleaning table. Four reds is plenty!

Friday, November 06, 2009

My friend and work counterpart in Salt Lake City had planned on fishing with me "someday" and finally that day arrived. Sergio stayed over an extra day after a three day meeting in Houston and we weere to meet in Matagorda for a day of paddling in the marsh.

Tracy and I spent the night at PPRV #7 and I found that a few trout had made it up the river.

The recent rains were slacking off and and what I had hoped for was coming to pass. The trout are making their way back up the river as trhe salinity increased.

Friday morning found me rigging the yaks and rods at the launch site as I waited for Sergio's arrival.

The tide was up which would make for easy paddling but may have the fish scattered.

The wind along the coast was calm and the time was right for a good paddle but there was fog inland and we got off a little later than wee planned.

Sergio took to the kayak in no time and we made our way down the channels towards the lake. We saw lots of birds and some mullet but the reds seemed to be hiding from us.

I located a feeding trout at the mouth of the channel as we came to the lake and I thought we were finally going to get into the fish.

We covered several miles of paddling all around the lake to all the famous spots where I had found fish before but by 11AM we were still without a fish on the stringer.

Here is Sergio calling home to SLC to give his wife the news - "Great paddling but no fish!"

The wind started to come up after we had exhausted our search and we headed back. I finally hooked up on a slot red in the channel and fought him to the boat. I was having trouble getting the frisky red in the net and on my third try he got my line tangled in the net and pulled hard enough to break off. Sergio and I watched the fish swim off with my 20lb leader hanging out of his mouth. ARRGGGHHHH!

Now it was my turn to call home and I told Tracy we were heading back to the launch and that I had just lost the only keeper fish of the day.

Believe it or not, as we began our paddle back my red floated to the surface! I quickly scooped him into my kayak and there was my leader and rig still stuck in his throat. We took him to the cleaning table at the Harbor and later to Spoonbills where Edie & Tommy fried him up for a great supper.

I was disappointed that I was unable to get Sergio on a fish but wee both enjoyed the day and the meal. We may have to do it again Sergio!